House Update -- Trim and Cabinets

So, the work has been fast and furious over the last two days. The trim guys started on Wednesday and finished today. The cabinets have also been installed, and the stone work has started on the fireplace.

Dining Room

They have installed the banister on the stairs.

View of upstairs from the family room

View of the kitchen from the family room.

The stone on the fireplace is the same as the exterior of the house. There will also be a stone hearth.

Lydia has been wanting to get her ears pierced for a long time but has been very nervous about it. She finally got up the courage with the help of a few cousins and aunts to cheer her on. Lydia is SO proud of herself and she looks beautiful! Way to go Lydia!!

(PS--SURPRISE DAD!!) :-)

June 23 House Update

There has been a lot of progress both outside and inside the house.

The brick and stone work is mostly done. They just need to touch up the window sills and the put the brick on the porches.

This is a view from the front door, showing the dining room to the left. The doorway to the right leads to the kitchen. As you can see they have finished work on the drywall, including texturing the walls. They have also installed the wood flooring. Later in the process, they will sand and stain the floor.

The clamps on the stairs are holding the railing to shape it to the curve of the stairs.

These are two views of the family room. The one on the left is looking toward the back yard. The one on the right is looking toward the front of the house.

Housing Update--June 15th

The house is almost totally sheet rocked.

They started on the brick and stone. We think that we have about 9 more weeks to go.

Where we have decided to "summer"

After much contemplation, we have decided to "summer" at the Foote's cottage. It has been referred to as the "guest house" and even "the garage." However, we prefer to think of it as "the cottage." It is a lovely and cozy place where we can spend lots of time getting closer to one another. We look forward to many fond memories to be made this summer at the cottage. However, we hope that some will not be as excitng as last night when after killing wasps we found a snake on the floor. Thanks to the Foote's for allowing us to build wonderful memories this summer!

Packing & Moving

The packing and moving days finally arrived. We had everything packed into these crates and sent off to storage. They will join us in August at our new home in Sunnyvale. Thank you to all who helped to make our move a little bit easier and thank you to all of our friends in Coppell. We will miss you all and hope that you will keep in touch. Thanks to the Cangelosi family for hosting an open house for us to be able to say good bye to everyone.

We will miss our friends

Lydia and Jacob have had these friends since kindergaten--Caitlyn, Karina, and Zack.

Lydia's friend Sloane had a going away party for her. It was so nice for Lydia. They swam and played. Then, they gave her flowers and a journal with pictures in it.

Last Day at Lakeside--Goodbye Longhorns! :-(

Goodbyes were filled with smiles and tears all mixed together. This picture is of the kids with Mr. Lukert. He has been the principal for the last 5 years.

Jacob and Lydia with Mrs. Bonner. She was Lydia's sub in 2nd grade and Jacob's teacher this year.

Richie and Jacob with Mrs. Smith. She taught them both in kindergarten. What a blessing she has been this year! We will miss all of the great teachers and friends from Lakeside!

The 5th graders took a final walk aroung the school before the bell rang. It was led by Elizabeth (the school secretary) and the school mascot--Buddy the dog. Lydia is behind in the white shorts and blue shirt. My camera was not fast enough to get any good shots. Lydia did not want any of her anyway. She was crying a lot!

The 5th graders made a banner that said "The future's so bright we gotta wear shades."

5th Grade Graduation

I will start off by apologizing for the quality of these pictures. I was also slow in getting these. They announced winners for different categories and we did not know who would win...so I did not have my camera ready. Lydia won awards for both Music and Social Studies! Way to go Lydia! You have worked SO hard this year. We are very proud of you.

Lydia has loved her teacher this year--Mrs. Lamar. We love you Lydia. Thank you for setting such a great example for all of your younger brothers and sisters.

When Lydia got the music award the teacher decided to have the students guess who would get it. So, she started out by saying, "This student has been at Lakeside since kindergarten. She has two brothers at Lakeside with her and two sisters not at Lakeside. Everyone then said...Lydia!!" By the way, doesn't she look beautiful and grown up?! Watch out Sunnyvale Middle School--Lydia is on her way!

Baseball Season

Richie had a great season with the Pirates. He loved the trophy and the treat tickets as much as playing!

Jacob loved playing catcher this season. Unfortunately, I do not have pictures of his last game where they got their trophies. I was running from the house after a full day of packing and left the camera. Jacob's team won 1st place in the U8 division! Jacob really improved this year. Great job Jacob!!

Last Pack Meeting in Coppell

Rich has been the Cub Master for the two Coppell Wards for the past couple of years. He has done a great job. It has been especially fun for him the past few months as Jacob has been in Cub Scouts. The theme for the month was recycling. So, the kids used recycled materials and decorated the outgoing and the new incoming Cub Masters.

Here they are as we judged them.

It was a tie!

For dessert we ate this yummy cake. I think that Rich will miss the boys as much as they will miss him.